newsday
Published: August 17, 2011
By Steve Parks steve.parks@newsday.com
Parrish Art Museum exhibition opening
Photo credit: Renate Aller Photo/ | This Renate Aller seascape selected by Ross Bleckner will be part of the “Artists Choose Artists” exhibit at the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, through Oct. 9, 2011.
The Parrish Art Museum opens what’s likely to be the final summer exhibition — ever — at its Southampton village jewel-box location with a forward-looking “Artists Choose Artists” juried show Saturday evening.
Seven established artists with East End connections served as jurors, each selecting two emerging or recently emerged artists — also from the East End — from 200 online submissions. The jurors narrowed their choices to four artists each and, following studio visits, selected the final 14. “Artists Choose Artists,” coordinated by associate Parrish curator Andrea Grover, is composed of one artwork by each juror alongside two or three pieces by the two artists he or she selected. “The online part was blind,” says Grover of the initial winnowing. “The artists only had to certify their 119 ZIP code prefix” — proving that they lived somewhere east of Yaphank. “So the show is quite democratic.”
JURY OF THEIR PEERS Although Sagaponack juror Ross Bleckner is a painter renowned for his canvases reflecting loss and remembrance, he chose two photographers: Renate Aller of Westhampton Beach, who shoots South Shore seascapes, and Wainscott’s Mary Ellen Bartley, who specializes in abstract close-ups of books. Sag Harbor Abstract Expressionist Frank Wimberley chose a fellow painter who mixes figurative and abstract elements, Fulvio Massi of Bridgehampton, and Julie Small-Gamby of East Hampton, who applies unusual materials to her mixed-media canvases. Sag Harbor collage artist Dan Rizzie was drawn to Tad Wiley’s painted-wood abstract architectural forms created on Shelter Island, plus fellow Sag Harbor artist Ross Watts’ conceptual works. Gary Simmons of Southampton, known for pop-icon reflections on class and race, selected Amagansett’s Perry Burns and his Abstract Expressionist paintings imbued with Islamic patterns, along with Southampton’s Melinda Hackett and her colorfully whimsical abstract paintings. East Hampton’s Matthew Satz, who experiments with drip and smoke paintings, found refuge in the en plein-air landscapes of Bridgehampton artist Terry Elkins, and the performance-art material creations of Amagansett’s Liliya Lifanova.
LADIES’ CHOICE Agathe Snow of Cutchogue, known for collaborative works in myriad media, was fascinated by the vibrant colors Mattituck’s Nella Khanis applies in transforming the mundane into the remarkable, as well as mixed-media wall pieces of East Hampton’s Alice Hope, who works with unseen natural forces such as magnetism. Invisible forces also inspire the paintings of Sag Harbor’s Kryn Olson, selected by site-specific sculptor/installation artist Alice Aycock. The Sag Harbor artist was also impressed by the sinuous wall sculptures that reflect the surfing passion of East Hampton’s Mike Solomon.
The Parrish is scheduled to relocate in July to its airy and spacious new museum space in nearby Water Mill.
WHEN | WHERE Opening reception 6 p.m. Saturday, through Oct. 9 at Parrish Art Museum, 25 Job’s Lane, Southampton; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 12, Thursdays-Mondays thereafter
INFO $5, $3 seniors, students, free for children younger than 18, active-duty military, (reception $10); parrishart.org 631-283-2118